System iNetwork

September 6, 2007

I'm Back in the Office and Gearing Up

Maxed Out has been pretty quiet lately, and that's because I was taking an extended time out to go backpacking in and around Yosemite National Park. In case you haven't been there, the terrain is awesome, and if you want to see a lot of rock, you can't go wrong.

In any event, I'm back in the office and gearing up for a wild fall in the System i world. IBM's recent System i reorganization is raising dozens of questions for businesses and System i pros alike, and we're expecting to learn a lot more this month and in October as IBM opens up a bit.

The flip side of opening up is IBM's recent decision to close the door on its plans to support NSFDB2 for i5/OS — too much work for not enough return? What if System i folks ditch Domino for Exchange or switch to another platform? You gotta believe that IBM has done at least some rudimentary forecasting here, in which case they're not seeing a return on investment, or they'd rather funnel their customers in some other direction.

Either way, some System i shops will find themselves between a rock and a hard place, which is a far cry from backpacking in Yosemite. It's a hot, sweaty job climbing thousands of feet, packing your gear miles into the mountains; but at the end of the day, the choices are relatively easy — freeze-dried spaghetti or oriental chicken?

For better or worse, I've got a feeling that overall options for System i customers are going to rapidly expand, so much so that our universe will have a much different look in a couple of years. Storm clouds or sunshine? Both, of course, and both are enjoyable — as long as you plan ahead and use the right gear.

Here are a couple of pics from my trip:



(And both were great days!)

Posted by cmaxcer at September 6, 2007 11:15 AM